Krispy Kreme Zeal is Real

Remember Fred Babbitt. You know the character from TV commercials, if not the name.r

“Fred the Doughnut Guy” staggered through the 1980s in his jammies, perpetually en route to a Dunkin’ Donuts store to make another batch of baked goods.r

“It’s time to make the doughnuts.”r

The message was hammered home 10 cajillion times: Somewhere, out there, Dunkin’ Donuts employees are scrambling like crazed Keebler elves to make a never-ending supply of fresh, hot doughnuts.r

The company spent millions of dollars on the advertising blitz, which is why anyone who doesn’t recognize the character must have spent the Reagan/ Bush I administrations living in an Afghani cave.r

So after a year of yammering over whether or not Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. will open a local store — by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, our sister publication in Little Rock Arkansas Business and others — I simply had to find out who does Krispy Kreme’s marketing.r

Imagine my surprise to learn the specialty retailer doesn’t spend a nickel on print, TV or radio advertising. It works with several marketing firms on community support efforts, but, in terms of good old media buys, the folks in Winston-Salem, N.C., said they simply don’t need any. The product, they say, sells itself.r

As much as it is heresy in this business to admit, they must be right.r

Never have I heard such a fuss about the possibility of one business coming into a market as Krispy Kreme — and the world’s largest company is based in our backyard. I mean, surely readers are dying for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. same-store sales or some other retail gibberish. Surely people want every news giblet they can get about Tyson Foods Inc. r

No. Everyone wants to know when the danged maker of ringed sugar bread is going to open and I mean “PDQ.” The fervor has even prompted our reporting during the last year to sound Dr. Seussian.r

“Krispy is coming here. It’s coming there. It’s coming. It’s not. It’s doughnuts are delicious hot. Here, there, everywhere, editors are pulling out their hair. Krispy Kreme, Krispy Kreme, there there there.”r

I finally accused several staffers of having gone doughnutty. “It’s doughnuts, people! Doughnuts!”r

Quickly, I was informed, that my understanding of the sublime sensation that is cramming a half-dozen Krispy Kremes down one’s throat is too pedestrian to dignify with anything more than disdain.r

Years ago and far away, I loved to drive past rice and cotton fields to get to Howard’s Doughnuts on Missouri Street in West Memphis. “Howard’s has coconut and cinnamon doughnuts, you know,” I said. “I bet Krispy Kreme’s not as good as Howard’s.”r

One female Krispy Kremer got evangelical on me, directing me to the the firm’s Web site and telling stories of family events predicated on the mass consumption of all things Krispy.r

“It’s not doughnuts,” she said. “Krispy Kreme is an experience. You can’t compare them to other doughnuts. Apes and humans have 98 percent of the same DNA, but it’s just not the same.”r

One Okie who’s eyes glazed over at the mere mention of the product said of Krispy Kremes, “They are the crack cocaine of the baked-goods industry.”r

Well, sleep well Arkansas. Last issue, we reported that Krispy Kreme is opening stores at Bentonville’s Shops at the Forum and on Shackelford Road in west Little Rock. Since then, I have learned that Krispy Kreme has about 20 franchisees nationwide and about 317 stores. Each store can make 4,000-10,000 dozens daily, and it’s probably the icing that’s the deal closer for customers.r

Krispy Kreme’s companywide sales for its fiscal second quarter were $241.1 million, up 29 percent compared to $186.9 million for the same quarter in 2002.r

I also learned, according to Krispy Kreme, each of its doughnuts contains 200 calories, 12 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbohydrates and at least 10 grams of sugar. After repeating this to one female enthusiast, her response says it all.r

“I don’t care if they’re full of poison,” she said. “The second that ‘Hot Doughnuts’ sign comes on in Bentonville, I’m getting me some.”